Markforged’s FX10 Industrial 3D Printer Replaces Metal Parts With Advanced Composites

Markforged’s FX10 industrial 3D printer is designed with flexibility in mind, with the printer’s modular systems engineered to be expanded and upgraded with additional capabilities. For example, the FX10 has been designed to incorporate a printhead integrated vision module to capture detailed part images and data to further ensure part quality and optimize printer performance.

The fifth-generation continuous fiber reinforcement (CFR) print system delivers high print quality in a heated print chamber that enables print speeds that are nearly twice as fast and print sizes that are up to twice as large as previous Markforged industrial series printers, enabling the replacement of metal parts with advanced composites.

The FX10 prints continuous carbon fiber-reinforced parts for a wide range of factory floor applications — helping manufacturers increase speed to market, slash fabrication and inventory costs, and de-risk line down events. The two printhead-mounted optical sensors automatically verify the dimensional accuracy of parts during the print to ensure consistency and reliability, while also assessing machine health and performance

The laser micrometer in the FX10 scans parts during printing and assists with the machine’s automatic calibration, while the new Vision Module captures detailed images of calibration parts to determine and optimize printer performance. Inspection software interprets the data from the sensors for dimensional verification, providing users with quality assurance as soon as a print finishes.

The material drawer of the FX10 contains built-in, individually sealed storage bays for up to four 800-cc spools. FX10 is able to automatically execute spool changeovers between filament storage bays during a print, and users can reload empty spool bays without disrupting a print.

The FX10 was designed to ensure easy adoption on the manufacturing floor starting with the first line operator. The system features a 7" touchscreen. A simple touchscreen interface combined with new automation and quality assurance technologies enable users to get more parts out of the FX10 with fewer interactions needed by the operator before and during a print than with previous Markforged printers. Users can start builds, monitor machine status, manually control the machine and start automated calibration routines all in one place.

The printer operates on the Digital Forge, which is Markforged’s additive platform that features intuitive device and desktop software, training and built-in cost calculation. Users can start generating ROI on day one and effortlessly scale to more teams, machines and facilities. A complete AM platform consisting of printers, cloud-enabled software with process improvement tools and a wide range of industrial materials, The Digital Forge is purpose-built to integrate into existing manufacturing ecosystems. With the Digital Forge, users can share parts across their organization and monitor fleet performance from a central location.

“We engineered the FX10 to be the best tool for the manufacturing floor,” says Shai Terem, Markforged CEO. “The FX10 allows manufacturers to slash original part replacement costs when compared to traditional methods and keep production lines running without worrying about supply chain issues or spare parts inventory. The FX10 can accelerate the digitization of the manufacturing floor by increasing the adoption of digital inventory to build supply chain resiliency. Our customers now have the potential to save even more capital by reducing physical inventory and boosting production yields, while decreasing operating costs.”

The FX10 printer is designed to supercharge manufacturing line productivity and profitability. The company says the printer empowers users to print the right part when and where it is needed, thereby reducing costs and cutting lead times from months to days, compared to traditional manufacturing methods.

“The FX10 is another important milestone in our mission to bring industrial production to the point of need. It enables our customers to address even more industrial applications with clear return on investment. Coupled with our Digital Source platform, we are truly starting to bring the vision of distributed manufacturing into reality,” Terem says. “The FX10 features a full suite of automation built to simplify the usage of the printer and increase adoption to build resiliency into our customers’ production. When a line is down or a tool is needed, FX10 users can simply press Print.”

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